Chapter 9 focuses on working with Geometric designs as a focal print. While it can be tempting to only fussy cut cute motifs, you'd be missing out on a whole treasure trove of possibilities. We're so excited to show you some of our favorite ways to use these hidden gems! Our special guest stars this week include Jessee of Art School Dropout and Samarra Khaja!

This week is also the start of our next Prize Pack! Weeks 9 & 10 are sponsored by Soakwash+ Lucky Spool!

Just to reiterate, here's how you play along!1. You must have an public Instagram account. If you have a private page, we’re sorry but we won’t be able to see your picture so you would not be eligible to win prizes. Please consider setting your account to public during this sew along, or create a second account just for your images.2. Use the hashtag #thefussycutsamplerQAL on all images so we can find them!3. Follow each of our guest posters, plus our sponsors to be eligible to win the prizes! (@luckyspool,@elizabethagh, @aurifil,@soakwaash,@superbuzzy23, @robertkaufman, @prym.consumer, @cloverusa)4. That’s it!

Four-way prints can be tough, especially since all the designs tend to be closely packed. Choose your selections carefully, or use Latifah's isolation trick from block 28 to get rid of unwanted extra motifs that might be encroaching on your design!

This block is a little bit of a breather between some more complicated cutting. Large scale one-way prints are super fun to buy and stash, but they're often hard to use in blocks. This one is designed to give you a big block space to let your favorite motif shine. Enhance it with an interesting border or some complementary fabrics.

Two way prints can be tricky to add to blocks, since you'll usually end up cutting off a motif design, which could make your block distracting. By carefully selecting which block sections your two-way prints will fill, you can eliminate some of that distraction.

This block shows how you can best work with one-way designs to create a smooth flow through your block, just by playing with directionality. It can be tricky to get the balance between background and your focal fabrics right, so take some time and try out different options! Also make sure you're taking care when cutting your Quarter-Square-Triangle units, so your directionality stays consistent!

Chapter 8! So Great! No but really, we're thrilled it's already time for Chapter 8, because we have so awesome guest star blocks to share with you this week, plus this is a fun chapter as we delve deeper into prints with directionality! Our guest stars include Jess from Elven Garden Quilts and Erika from Pink Suede Shoe. Plus, at the end of this week we get to announce more prize winners! So make sure you're ready to post, because you won't want to miss out on these prizes.

Just to reiterate, here's how you play along!1. You must have an public Instagram account. If you have a private page, we’re sorry but we won’t be able to see your picture so you would not be eligible to win prizes. Please consider setting your account to public during this sew along, or create a second account just for your images.2. Use the hashtag #thefussycutsamplerQAL on all images so we can find them!3. Follow each of our guest posters, plus our sponsors to be eligible to win the prizes! (@luckyspool,@elizabethagh, @aurifil,@soakwaash,@superbuzzy23, @robertkaufman, @prym.consumer, @cloverusa)4. That’s it!

As you may have discovered, sometimes even with the best-laid plans it can be hard to isolate tossed prints. That's why we're so pleased to share Guest Star Latifah Saafir's trick on isolating designs. By creating your own background, you can simplify your block design and eliminate distracting backgrounds! Plus, it's FUN!

We love how Latifah used her new fabric collection, Double Dutch, to highlight her isolation technique! Her fabrics are graphic and absolutely stunning together, and they'll be in stores soon, so keep your eye out!

Sometimes, if you want to create a one-way design with a tossed print, you'll need to force directionality. This is when you may cut off-grain to get the design to face one direction. It's a little tricky, so press gently so you don't stretch your fabric!

This block teaches you how to find a focal in a tossed print. Sometimes it might seems like it's impossible to isolate just one motif in a tossed print, but by looking for a repeating design in other parts of the fabric, you're sometimes able to get just what you want, without a lot of extra pieces!

We love how Monica of Happy Zombie fussy cut her sweet little doggy print, inspired by her very own four-legged-friend!

This block covers cutting basics for tossed prints. While a tossed print may look like you can cut anywhere and still achieve a cute fussy cut, it's important to take just a smidge of extra time to make sure you're isolating the motif you want!

Can you believe we're already half way complete with this quilt-along! This week we'll be tackling how to best use tossed prints! They're a super common quilting fabric, and a very forgiving fussy cut. I hope you're all ready for a super fun week, because we have some amazing guest stars, including Monica of Happy Zombie and Latifah of Latifah Saafir Studios.

Plus, this marks the official start of our next Prize segment! Weeks 7 & 8 are sponsored by Aurifil + Lucky Spool!

Just to reiterate, here's how you play along!1. You must have an public Instagram account. If you have a private page, we’re sorry but we won’t be able to see your picture so you would not be eligible to win prizes. Please consider setting your account to public during this sew along, or create a second account just for your images.2. Use the hashtag #thefussycutsamplerQAL on all images so we can find them!3. Follow each of our guest posters, plus our sponsors to be eligible to win the prizes! (@luckyspool,@elizabethagh, @aurifil,@soakwaash,@superbuzzy23, @robertkaufman, @prym.consumer, @cloverusa)4. That’s it!

This block is all about complementary directionality in Half-Square-Triangles. This can be a tricky concept since there are so many places where patterns will cross. It's super important to pick the right fabric that won't be too distracting, or look like you made excessive cutting errors. When this is done effectively it creates a dynamic block with a continuous flow.

Sometimes it can be hard to put multiple focal fabrics together in one finished piece. This block gives you the chance to test out some different focal motifs together by exploring color placement, theme, etc.

Blcok 22 is about cutting different sizes of motifs from the same print. The goal is to find a fabric you love that has both a large focal motif, as well as small focals you might otherwise overlook. By isolating the small designs apart from the large designs, you shift the focus to the other elements in the fabric!

TIP: If you're working with a directional background, when you cut your (1) 4-1/2" square of fabric B (background), you'll need to cut it on the bias to make sure the directionality flows through the block. Otherwise, those sections will not have the same directionality in the final block.

Block 21 is all about sizing to fit and working with scale. The challenge we present here is to find a similar motif in three different sizes, then use the different sized borders in the block to play with that scale.

Yay! It's time for week 6 of the quilt-along! This week we'll be working on fussy cutting smaller motifs, and also practicing when NOT to feature a fussy cut. We're so excited to share our blocks with you, as well as our guests, Janice of Better off Thread, and Giuseppe of Giucy Giuce.

Don't forget this week continues on the prizes this week are sponsored by Clover & Lucky Spool!

Just to reiterate, here's how you play along!1. You must have an public Instagram account. If you have a private page, we’re sorry but we won’t be able to see your picture so you would not be eligible to win prizes. Please consider setting your account to public during this sew along, or create a second account just for your images.2. Use the hashtag #thefussycutsamplerQAL on all images so we can find them!3. Follow each of our guest posters, plus our sponsors to be eligible to win the prizes! (@luckyspool,@elizabethagh, @aurifil,@soakwaash,@superbuzzy23, @robertkaufman, @prym.consumer, @cloverusa)4. That’s it!

This block is a fun way to showcase some odd sized motifs, plus, it's a great one to really test your ruler tricks so you can isolate that perfect shape. Make sure that you've downloaded the errata page for this block before you go any further! You'll want to get it perfect!

Block 17 is all about Coordinating Secondary Prints. The goal is to ideally pick a secondary design with almost the same color background or design motif so it looks like those pieces are cut from the same fabric as your focal design. This is a super useful trick to have up your sleeve in case you fall in love with the idea of a very specific fabric, but don't have enough to make the entire block!